Diabetes and Dementia

March 9, 2010
"Diabetes alone has shown to be a risk factor for dementia, as has major depression by itself", said the lead author of the study, Dr Wayne Katon, University of Washington (UW) professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. A new study, jointly conducted by Dr. Wayne Katon, researchers from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health Care System and UW researchers in medicine and in epidemiology, evolved the new possibility among the diabetic patients.

The study which compared the diabetic patients with the non- diabetic patients revealed that the people with diabetes are 40% to 100 % more prone to contract Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and other types of dementia, compared to people without diabetes. For the study's purpose, patients from nine Puget Sound area primary-care clinics in western Washington State were taken, who consented to participate.

"It seems prudent for clinicians to add effective screening and treatment for depression to other preventive measures such as exercise, weight control, and blood sugar control to protect against the development of cognitive deficits in patients with diabetes", the researchers said.

The research reported that diabetes along with depression caused a 2.7 fold increase of dementia in the patient's body.